This is week two of the Irish Blogger Gathering, a communal exercise where various ND bloggers get together, ask each other questions, and try to top each other with their answers. Of course I’m going to participate.
Courtesy of the fine gentlemen over at Her Loyal Sons, here are the pertinent questions as we approach the grudge match between Notre Dame and Michigan. If you’re looking for a master list filled with answers, and some other fine blogging, check out HLS.
1. You’ve now seen Notre Dame Football: The Kelly Edition, Volume 1, Episode 1. Was it everything you thought it would be? Were characters missing from this episode that you were expecting to see featured? Did it strike you as a carbon-copy of Kelly’s Cincinnati teams, or is there something discernible between the 2 programs beyond the colors of the uniforms?
I don’t think it was possible for Volume One to live up to the expectations people had set for it, and after writing about 100,000 words over the offseason, anything short of a fifty-point shellacking might have be underwhelming. But after processing the game, a few of the subtle details made me appreciate the Irish performance even more. Obviously, I thought the Irish could’ve been more aggressive with guys like Michael Floyd and Theo Riddick, but otherwise it was like a boxer beginning to systematically beat a under-matched opponent. Nothing flashy, but it works in the end.
Kelly is far from trotting out the team he played with at Cincinnati, and this offense leaned heavily on its offensive line, surprisingly stout defense, and a solid special teams game. Will that be the case all year? Probably not, especially when Dayne Crist starts establishing a rhythm.
2. Pick one positive play, offense or defense, by the Irish from last Saturday that you feel serves as a bit of metaphorical foreshadowing for the 2010 Irish. Extra points if you can stretch the metaphor to fit Kelly’s entire tenure at Notre Dame.
I’ve got to go with Armando Allen’s 22-yard touchdown run. For three seasons, Irish fans waited for Allen to break a touchdown run, and behind the mauling blocks of the offensive line, great downfield effort by Michael Floyd, and some impressive vision by Allen, the Irish got six points. While Charlie Weis had many Irish fans entranced by an offense that was different than just about every college attack out there, Kelly established in one week that while Notre Dame is running a spread attack like a dozen others, they’ll do it with discipline, precision and 11 players giving tremendous effort.
3. Pick another play, offense or defense, by the Irish from last Saturday again, but this time, make it a negative play. Tell us how that play serves as a bit of metaphorical foreshadowing for the 2010 Irish. And again, bonus points for stretching it over Kelly’s tenure.
Dayne Crist throwing Michael Floyd out of bounds on two nearly sure touchdown passes. There’s no way that Jimmy Clausen misses that throw, and it’s a great reminder that the Irish offense will only go as far as Crist can lead them. (I don’t think I can find something metaphorical with this one. It’s pretty cut and dry. Play good quarterback = Have good offense.)
4. You know us, we’re stat geeks. Give us a stat that we should be watching this season that will A) Tell us something enlightening about the 2009 Irish and/or B) Tell us something enlightening about the average Top-5 teams at the end of the 2009 season.
Never thought I’d be the one to say this, but my stat would be this one: Ws & Ls.
Bringing in Brian Kelly and his staff solidified that wins and losses are the only stat that really matters to Notre Dame fans. Under Kelly, I expect the Irish to start winning the games they’re supposed to win, and finding a way to steal some of the ones that they aren’t.
There are plenty of writers out there providing great insight into stats, and I’m sure someone has found a great correlation among top-five teams, but here’s something I noticed: Total losses among 2009 Top 5 teams: 4. Total losses by 2009 Notre Dame: 6. The Irish know they have work to do.
5. Notre Dame is currently a 4 point favorite in the coming Michigan game. You get 3 points for being at home. The AP poll actually ranks Michigan higher than ND. ND is 1-4-1 in the last 6 games with Michigan in which the Irish were favored and 9 and 6 in the last 15 games in which Michigan was favored. Does any of this worry you? Why or why not?
As someone who is spending the weekend in Las Vegas watching football games it should, but I’m not too worried about the past when it comes to this football team. Having watched the last dozen battles between Notre Dame and Michigan, and having remembered with great detail the last six, I’m confident that if the Irish play a complete ball game, Notre Dame fans will be very happy come Saturday evening. (And so will the guy laying the four points...)
6. Last week, Frank at UHND put the Gathering on the spot with our predictions for the season. After week 1, are there any of those predictions that you’d like to alter? Any upon which you’d double down?
Feel pretty good about things as of now, but I’ve got a feeling the guys that shelled out cash for the Ricky Dobbs Heisman campaign might want their money back.
7. Describe in no fewer than 30 words why you hate Michigan.
My favorite Notre Dame memory was beating Michigan in the first game of my freshman year, and I was shocked that so many people really hated -- I mean, hated -- Michigan. I grew up kind of liking them, and I’ve got no real beef with the Wolverines.
(In a completely unrelated note, my boss just so happens to be a Michigan graduate. What a coincidence!)